Norwegian ship attacked by pirates

Area of increased piracy (Courtesy of International Herald Tribune)

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Armed pirates hijacked a Norwegian flagged bulk carrier off southern Nigeria on Wednesday, roughing up the crew but releasing them after two hours, officials said.

The suspected pirates climbed aboard the ship in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, early Wednesday morning, Norwegian Rescue Service spokesman Stein Solberg said in Oslo. They “pushed around” the 22-member crew, all Indian citizens, but no one was injured, he said.

The hijackers escaped with valuables after threatening the crew, said Jarle Ellefsen, a spokesman for the Bergen-based Spar Shipping company.

“They took money, PCs and radio equipment — stuff like that,” he said. “They also wrecked some of the inside of the ship and broke doors.”

The ship, the Spar Gemini, had anchored near the port after arriving with a shipment of dry goods from China, he said.

The Nigerian coast has become another hotspot in the world for piracy aboard large commercial cargo ships. What used to be limited to oil service vessels operating in the Nigerian delta has now spread to include increasingly brazen attacks against larger and larger vessels.